Q*bert Quilt 2.0, The Marquee, Update 4

I decided to go ahead and add the marquee. I really thought the second Q*bert and Slick was just going to be overkill so I decided I would make the letters extra large and move the characters on the side up a bit. Sure, it is taking artistic license, but I'm already planning on putting Coily on the board where I want him and not where he would programatically be.

For reference, here is the image I'm working from again:

I did a little math and decided that if the Q was about 8" high, the length of the word would be roughly the length of the playing board. I cropped down the image to just the marquee and set the height to 8". I reversed the image then printed it across multiple pages. 

I traced the letters on to the paper side of paper backed fusible web.

After all the letters were traced, I pressed them on the back side of yellow fabric. I DO NOT cut the patterns to the edge before pressing. It seems to work better if it is pressed with an allowance then trimmed. That way the glue is right to the edge

Time to cut! I laid them where I wanted them and pinned them for pressing

Next I pressed them to glue them in place. I once tried the pin method of applique without the web, but I never could keep the applique flat. This method seems to work best for me.

I used a super wide zigzag stitch to mimic the wide red background. I've got a ways to go to be really good keeping the line and making nice sweeping curves, but I'm impressed with the improvement through the edging. I used a tear away stabilizer to make sure to avoid puckering. Once I made it all the way around, I simply removed the stabilizer.

About half way through the letters I ran out of red thread. Opps!

Went back to the store and bought two - turns out, I only needed one!

I think I'm going to get back to board next and try to finish it up so I can put the marquee and sides on.

Q*bert Quilt 2.0, It looks like something!, Update 3

Yay! It is finally starting to look like something!

I've finished sewing together the board and used a paper backed fusable web to tack it to the black rectangle of fabric. I will be quilting the edge with a thick zig zag once the backing goes on, but I didnt want the edges to fray in the meantime. I used clear thread and blanket stitch around the edges to hold em down while they continue to be handled.


I found this awsome image online of the bezel, marquee and controler board. While I think it would be awesome to complete the edges exactly like you see it, I'm unwilling to attempt that controller board! I do think I will add the Q*bert marquee without the extra Q*bert to the top of the quilt.

Q*bert Quilt 2.0, Getting started, Update 2

I survived my trip to Joann's. Shopping at their convenience seems to work. I only had to wait about five minutes for cuts. Sadly, they were sold out of the yellow fabric that is an exact match for the purple and blue and none of it was on sale and I only had one percentage off coupon. So frustrating to have to pay different prices for the same things on different days. Joann's if you're listening - please, fix it.

I had a home improvement project that took me away from Q*bert. The distraction project is all wrapped up now so I've come back to quilt. This time I cut out multiple template pieces and laid them all to maximize cuts rather than the one at a time method I used last time.

I did not cut the templates with the 1/4 seam allowance so I eyeballed how much space needed to go between the template pieces.  Probably would have been more effective to have exact template pieces, but this worked, felt like it was saving time so I went with it.

Now it's just layout, sew, sew, sew, press, layout, sew, sew, sew, press, sew, layout ...